A new powerful group being created in the corporate catering market

Genesis Capital has become the owner of the GTH Catering and MULTI-Catering companies

Prague, 8thDecember 2010

Millions of people who eat at company restaurants and cafeterias every day will have a chance to be offered better services in the near future. Two significant catering providers have now begun activities under experienced management, the Czech firms GTH Catering a.s. and MULTI-Catering s.r.o., which are among the largest in their field. Genesis Capital, one of the largest private equity fund managers in the Czech Republic, has become a co-owner of these companies, with the new top management simultaneously purchasing an interest in these companies in the form of so-called management buy-in.

The connection between the activities of GTH Catering and MULTI-Catering, even though they will continue to carry out business activities under their own names as independent subjects, will initiate consolidation of the very fragmented market of corporate catering, the annual volume of which represents approximately 12 billion crowns. GTH Catering is one of the five largest companies in the field, while the slightly smaller MULTI-Catering company has assumed a leading position on the market in catering for hospital facilities and health care system in general.

Genesis Capital, which implemented purchase of both companies by means of its GPEF II fund, assumes that the GTH Catering – MULTI-Catering group will become one of the most significant players on the company catering market in the Czech Republic.“The synergy stemming from the resourcefulness of a powerful financial group and an experienced and motivated executive team, provides a good foundation for further development,“said director of Genesis Capital Jan Tauber.“Furthermore, both companies are active in different segments of the market and by linking their activities they should provide enhanced services to companies in the private sphere, as well as to hospitals, schools, and other public institutions.”

“We wish to focus on provision of complex catering services based on an offer of first-rate Czech cuisine, which is what people demand most often in our extended experience,“said Daria Lamžová, the new managing director and co-owner of GTH Catering and MULTI-Catering, who has been active in the field of company catering for over six years, most recently in the position of managing director of the company Sodexo s.r.o. Two of the former top managers of Sodexo s.r.o., Vilém Očadlý and Tomáš Hubka, have become shareholders of the GTH Catering and MULTI-Catering companies together with Daria Lamžová.“I perceive the opportunity of establishing a powerful Czech company in the position of co-owner to be an enormous challenge in my life,“says Daria Lamžová.

The multi-billion company catering market is developing dynamically in the Czech Republic, nevertheless many companies and institutions still provide catering for their employees using their own resources. This chiefly applies in the education system, the health care system and in the field of care of seniors, where outsourcing of services in the form of delivery of meals from catering companies is still – contrary to the spheres of industry and administration – limited. In the future it can be assumed that the proportion of outsourcing will increase, also due to the fact that catering companies are able to provide company catering cheaper than the company’s own cafeterias.

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Genesis Capital

Genesis Capital is a prestigious company involved in the management of private equity funds for small and medium enterprises. The company is based in Prague and has been active on the Czech and Slovak markets since 1999. Genesis Capital is the only private equity company managing funds for international financial institutions and private investors to focus exclusively on the small and medium company segment in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The current team consists of seven highly qualified investment professionals with extensive experience in the field of private equity investment and previous experience in many other fields.

Since 1999, Genesis Capital has been managing three private equity funds with a total volume of EUR 90 million. Genesis Capital has invested in more than 20 companies over the last 10 years. It has now sold 10 of these companies and, in most cases, achieved an attractive return on investment. Nine companies currently remain in the Genesis Capital portfolio, whose total turnover exceeds EUR 170 million and which employ a combined total of more than 3,000 people. Companies in which Genesis Capital has invested include AB Facility, Pietro Filipi, CCS, ETARGET, Gumotex, Energetické strojírny Brno, or Roltechnik with Profimedia and Vydis being most recent acquisitions.

In the current environment, characterised by difficult access to standard bank financing for small and medium enterprises, Genesis Capital funds represent a good alternative by which companies with potential growth can obtain required capital. However Genesis Capital funds also provide financing for company buy-outs. Fund investors include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Česká spořitelna and the Belgian investment company, Gimv.